A. Tassos at the Benaki Museum, Pireos Annex.
A. Tassos studied at the Athens School of Fine arts under the master of Greek engraving, Yannis Kaphallinos. He joined the Greek Communist Party in 1930, and during the Nazi occupation of Greece he joined the National Liberation Front (EAM) creating resistance propaganda material. From 1954 to 1967, while working for the Greek Postal Service, he implemented innovatory techniques in stamp design. In 1959 he became director of the pioneering Department of Graphic Arts at the Technological Institute. In the years of the military junta he lived in self-exile abroad, creating works of social protest.
His work focuses on ordinary people, their everyday lives and their struggles. Until the end of his life he remained faithful to his beliefs and the hope for a new society, a just, democratic, socialist one.
The artist's studio recreated in the gallery
Figure, 1963 (woodcut)
Young Woman with Small Trees, 1963 (woodcut)
Composition, 1963 (woodcut)
Tribute to Aliki, 1962 (wooden plate)
Tribute to Aliki, 1962 (wooden plate)
Young Woman, 1950 (lithograph)
Tavern Boy, 1957 (woodcut)
A. Tassos and Loukia Maggioros, The Cultivation of Tobacco (maquette), 1959-60
Mulberry Trees, 1960 (lithograph)
Still Life, 1950-55 (woodcut)
Farmers of Messinia, 1957 (woodcut)
Pasture, 1959 (lithograph)
Fruit Harvest, 1958 (woodcut)
Fruit Harvest, 1958, (woodcut)
Women Farmers, 1958 (lithograph)
Slave, 1, 1967 (woodcut plate)
Slave 2, 1967 (woodcut plate)
Slave 3, (woodcut plate)
Federico Garcia Lorca, 1966 (woodcut)
Freedom Burning (triptych) 1972 (wooden plate)
Cyprus 1974, 1974 (woodcut)
17 November 1973, 1974 (pencil and ink drawing)
Yorgos Seferis, 1979 (ink drawing)
Yorgos Seferis, 1979 (wooden plate)
Yorgos Seferis, 1979 (woodcut)
Girl by Window, 1983 (preparatory drawing)
Girl by Window, 1983 (lithograph)
Tree Trunks, 1980-81 (wooden plate)
Finally:
Loukia Magiorou, A. Tassos engraving, 1948 (oil on canvas)
Yannis Moralis, Loukia Magiorou, 1939 (oil on canvas)
Stamatis Mitsios, Tribute to A. Tassos, 2015
These prints are so evocative of the 'Greek' style of those days. It is interesting to see these and your last post too.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the exhibition, Olga. The previous one, I found very interesting, as I have always been intrigued by Arte Povera, so all in all, it's been good.
DeleteI would like to own the willow trees. They are just beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI agree, that one's lovely, Avril. I also liked the coloured ones of the Messinian farmers.
DeleteSorry, I meant mulberry trees!
ReplyDelete